Compliance Committee

The Compliance Committee under the Protocol on Water and Health was established in 2007, in accordance with article 15 of the Protocol on review of compliance (see decision 1/2 on review of compliance (ENGFRERUS) and the rules of procedure of the Committee).

The objective of the compliance procedure is to facilitate, promote and aim to secure compliance with the obligations under the Protocol, with a view to preventing disputes.

The first reporting exercise under the Protocol conducted in 2009-2010 showed that a number of Parties were facing difficulties in implementing the Protocol, in particular with its core obligation to set targets and target dates. To respond to this situation, the Compliance Committee decided to enhance its facilitation and assistance functions, and agreed to enter into consultations with Parties. See the Terms of Reference of the Consultation Process for more information.

In the framework of the Consultation Process, the Committee:

Assists Parties in developing an accurate analysis of their situation with water and health (enabling them to set targets under the Protocol)

Provides recommendations to the Parties on how to improve their situation with water and health

Assists Parties in seeking support from donors, specialized agencies and other competent bodies

Consultations do not have an inquisitive nature and may be initiated by a request from a Party or an invitation from the Committee. Sessions can be held in confidence, if so requested.

Compliance Commitee members

The following persons serve on the Committee in a personal capacity following the fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties held in November 2016:

Mr. Jorge E. Viñuales holds the Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge and is the Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). He is also Of Counsel with LALIVE. Prior to joining Cambridge, he was the Pictet Chair of International Environmental Law at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, where he keeps a limited affiliation as Adjunct Professor of Public International Law. In 2016, he was elected Director-General of the Latin-American Society of International Law. Mr. Viñuales has also wide experience as a practitioner. He has worked on many cases under ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC or LCIA rules, including several high profile inter-State, investor-State, and commercial disputes, and he regularly advises companies, governments, international organizations or major NGOs on different matters of environmental law, investment law, human rights, maritime delimitation and public international law at large.

Ms. Zsuzsanna Kocsis-Kupper is the team member of Priority Area Water Quality of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). Ms Kocsis-Kupper further acts as an external monitoring consultant and regional coordinator of the European Commission’s external monitoring team for LIFE projects in the Central- Eastern European countries since 2004. Ms. Kocsis-Kupper was the legal advisor of the government in the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office between 2000 and 2002, coordinating the government’s legal activities concerning the Tisza-Szamos cyanide pollution. She was the alternate Hungarian delegate to the European Commission's Task Force. Between 1997 and 2000 she worked in the Ministry of Environment as legal expert and was a member of the delegation of the Hungarian Government at the Accession Screening Negotiations. Ms. Kocsis-Kupper gave lectures on environmental law and international environmental law in Eötvös Loránd University Law Faculty for postgraduate students between 2001 and 2013. She is the Doctor of Law (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest). Her main area of expertise is European and international environmental law and management, focusing on water quality issues. Ms. Kocsis-Kupper further holds a master’s degree on European environmental management awarded by the University of Amsterdam and an LLM on environmental law.

Mr. Pierre Chantrel holds a degree and specialization in Environmental Health from the National Institute of Public Health of Rennes, France. His key qualifications are in environment, environmental health, risk management, environment and water management. He was head of Environmental Health Services at the French Ministry of Health and then served as a Deputy General Manager in the International Office for Water in Paris. Mr. Chantrel has an extensive experience in technical expertise and institutional assistance to countries in Europe and beyond.

Ms. Ingrid Chorus is the Head of Division Drinking-Water and Swimming-Pool Hygiene of the Federal Environmental Agency of Germany. Ms. Chorus is leading a department which undertakes research and uses the results to develop concepts for managing drinking-water and swimming pools to control microbial and chemical pollution, to advise policy development and to derive guidance for practitioners. She holds a degree in Biology of the Free University, Berlin. Ms. Chorus is a member of various scientific societies. Her research fields include risk-based approaches to managing drinking-water and water used for recreation; resource management and lake restoration; cyanobacterial toxins; algal metabolites; elimination of pathogens and substances through underground filtration.

Mr. Vadim Ni is the Chair of Ecoforum of NGOs of Kazakhstan.. He is the leading international environmental lawyer in Kazakhstan and one of his specializations is water law and policy. Mr. Ni has experience of consultancy on environmental law and water management in the five Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. He assisted Government of Kazakhstan with ratification and implementation of the Aarhus Convention, UNFCCC and Kyoto protocol and IMO legal instruments on civil liability for oil spills. Mr. Ni has extensive professional experience in the areas of public participation in environmental protection and river basin management. He participated in drafting of the national legislation of Kazakhstan on access to environmental information and public participation in river basin management. He holds two university degrees - one in chemistry (1993) and one in law (2000).

Ms. Natalja Sliachtic is a Master of Biochemistry working in the field of Environmental Health. She was a member of Board of Lithuanian Rivers basin’s management plans and was taking part in the Baltic Environmental Forum activity. She is responsible for consultation in the field of water protection and health impact and takes part in the preparation of Lithuanian legislation. She has gained experience during many years of working directly on the Protocol on Water and Health.

Mr. Ilya Trombitsky is the Executive Director of NGO ECO-TIRAS International Association of River Keepers. His basic university education is in Biology, he did doctorate by correspondence on fish diseases in Moscow State University, and he is a PhD in Biology. In 1990-2000 he served as a member of Parliament of Moldova, responsible for drafting of environmental legislation and the NGO legislation. Since 1993 he has worked in the non-governmental-sector, fields of activity cover eco-NGO sector building, development of rural community-based organizations and water legislation. He is actively involved in promotion of modern environmental policy via NGO projects in Moldova. He took part in ratification and promotion of Aarhus Convention, lobbying of Dniester River basin treaty, participated in negotiations of Aarhus Convention, Water Convention, Dniester Treaty etc. Mr. Trombitsky is the author of 200+ scientific publications on the topic, including several books.

Mr. Oddvar Georg Lindholm is Professor Emeritus in Water Supply and Sewerage of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). He is Dr. Ing. from Norwegian Institute of Technology. Mr. Lindholm’s areas of research include water supply and sewerage systems analysis, urban hydrology, sustainable urban drainage systems, flooding in cities and pollution in urban water systems. He is author of more than 150 national and international scientific publications and ca. 100 professional reports.

Mr. Serhiy Vykhryst is the lawyer in the European ECO-Forum. He is the PhD in International Law. His key qualifications cover international law, international environmental law, legal advocacy, compliance with international obligations. He is the Associate professor of the International Law Department in the Economics and Law University KROK, and author of multiple publications.